Stupid Cupid
by Rawr- exclamation point
Summary: Ryan is the black sheep of a strict religious family, and he doesn't know why. Suddenly, he dies. Now he's back with a second chance on the condition that he becomes Cupid's apprentice for Albuquerque. The only problem is he knows nothing about love.Tryan
1. The New Start

Let me start off by saying that this was an idea, not related to HSM, in my head. It had original characters and plot, but due to the fact that it was intended as a television series, and I can't even fathom as to how I would be able to get _that _to happen, I have adopted it as a fanfiction for my favorite fandom. The original story had a female lead, and would develop into a traditional, heterosexual, romance. Other than that, it's pretty much the same. Maybe I'll post the original somewhere else, who knows? Anyways, here is my highly anticipated (by me), and somewhat hyped (in the sense that it was decided by _you guys_) new story.

Chapter One: The New Start

It was a time of celebration in the Romantic Affairs Office. Reginald, of District 12/ Sector SE 2, was going into retirement, and today was his Retirement Party. The office would never allow a party during working hours, so it was arranged on a Saturday morning. The entire office had been decorated for the celebration: there were baby cacti in decorative pots around the place, and succulent looking cactus pears were lying in complex arrangement in bowls of various shapes and sizes. Green and yellow streamers also littered the pathways, spelling out wishes of good times to follow. The centerpiece of the entire party, however, was the cake that one of his peers had baked: it was a sheet cake with really ornately designed patterns across it. The frosting had various flourishes strewn across it. To be put simply: it was a beautiful party.

"Today, we are celebrating the goodbye of our dear old friend, Reginald Wilde. There hasn't been a day where I can't remember coming into this office and seeing a huge pile of paperwork on my desk," a few people chuckled. "thanks to the very detailed reports he always made. I think that will be the one thing I'll miss- or maybe not- about you. Cheers!" Howard put his glass in the air.

"Cheers!" The others followed.

"Now let's get into that cake of your, Persi!" Said Howard.

"It's Persephone, and no one gets any until Regi has his slice." Persephone teased.

Reginald was standing by the cake, minding his own business, when Persephone asked him to cut the cake.

"What for?"

"Come on! It's your last day, why not just go with it?" Persephone asked.

After much coercing, Reginald finally relented. He wasn't one for these special occasions. Yes, he was retiring, but he felt it unnecessary to throw a huge blowout for himself. He kept his mouth shut, though, realizing this was probably more important to the others, and went with it. Well, most of it.

After the cake, there were other people who wished to say something. Most of the speeches were nice, but Tiffany's speech was quite provocative, she ended her speech asking Reginald to giver her a goodbye kiss. He politely declined, feeling a simple handshake or hug should be sufficient. In the end, the guys pushed him into her and made him peck her on the cheek. Then she acted all embarrassed and mumbled something about sexual harassment. He never really liked the girl.

Then the music came on. A few people started dancing, Tiffany being one of them, and then helpless victims were dragged onto the dance floor to embarrass themselves. Reginald managed to get through this part unscathed, and was grateful for it. He hadn't danced in years.

An hour later, after the party had died down, and many left to go home. Everyone said their goodbyes to Reginald before they left as they filed out. Soon, Reginald was the only one left in the room. We did a last walk around it, remembering all of the moments he had there. It was weird to think he would never return here again- now he had a life! He was excited about being able to do whatever he wanted, maybe he could finally go out and see the world. He would go to Paris, Rome, Italy- tour all of Europe, like had always dreamed to.

His dreams were cut short, when a clearing of the throat behind him alerted him that he was not alone. It was Robert Chang, the head of the department.

"Reginald? Could I see you in my office?" He asked.

"Why? We're the only ones in here." Reginald asked back.

"Because, the files I have for you are in there." Robert walked to his office. "Well? Come on then!"

Once they were situated, Robert started.

"Well, congratulations on your retirement. Although I must say my congratulations are a bit early. I wanted to tell you this earlier, but it was such a nice party. Your retirement isn't official yet- there was one last assignment Howard forgot to give you: you have to take on an apprentice. We have found one that would be perfect, and we are processing him as we speak. We'll send you notification when he ready." Robert said slowly and with compassion, after all, he really did care.

"Wait so I'm retired, but I still have to work?" Reginald asked.

"I'm afraid so. The assignment was thrown back and forth throughout the department, and I'm afraid it ended up in your lap in the end."

"Why don't they get someone else to do it? We have plenty of people here." Reginald's voice was steady, but you could feel the anger in it.

"Due to the current conditions, we are expanding the Lost Relationships Office. Half of R.A.'s staff is going to be transfered over in a month. We simply don't have the time anymore." Robert lamented.

"People these days, they break it off at the slightest bump. It's not like it used to be." Reginald elaborated. "Back when I first started, we had the largest department in Human Affairs. Now were dwindling down to the bottom. What has happened to people today?"

"It's society: everything moves on a lot faster now. A lot of that synthetic sugar is to blame too." Robert answered.

"Oh yeah, I read that article. All of those artificial sweeteners block out the effects of our arrows. I don't know why they ever created the stuff, it tastes awful." Reginald complained.

"Everyone wants to be model thin. What can I say, your right: things simply aren't what they used to be." Robert stood up. "Go on Regi, get some rest, well send you notification when he's ready for training."

"Alright. Still sucks I have to do this though."

"Yeah, it does. You go on now. Here take the file."

Reginald Wilde walked out of the building, the file still in his hands, feeling as if his party had been all for naught.

***

A certain blonde teen was ambling his was down the street, in no particular hurry to be home. His ride had left without him- because they had had another argument again- and he was stuck finding his own way home. His sister had the worst temper he'd had ever known, and he found that her title, Ice Queen, was very fitting for her.

It started out as something as trivial as hairspray. Ryan had run out of hairspray and went into his sister's bathroom to borrow hers, he only had it for five minutes when his sister burst into the room and demanded her hairspray back. He told her that he had ran out and need to borrow hers, but all she said was that she had a very specific regimen she followed, and when it was broken she got upset. She then went off in a completely different topic and started ranting about him staring at people at school. She called him weird and she wondered aloud how they could even be related. After all, she was head of the East High Drama Club _and _the Christian Fellowship Club, and he didn't even belong to a club. He just sat in the house and read.

So here he was, walking home- after walking to school and missing homeroom and his first class, all because of a can of hairspray. It wasn't the first time either. It happened quite often, although for different reasons. His parents did nothing; if he were to tell his parents his mom would tell him he should have kept his own toiletries in check, and his dad would tell him that he didn't any hairspray- because he was a man.

Ryan had recently felt like the black sheep of the family. They took care of him and made sure to buy him nice things, but he always felt that they did that only so they wouldn't have to love him. He never knew why, it started around the time he was getting into middle school. He could hear his parents talk in hushed voices all the time, and when he walked into the room, they would pretend that he wasn't there. They also got mad at him for the strangest reasons: once he got in trouble for looking at people in the mall. They were two guys, and they were sharing some fries, which caused Ryan to contemplate getting some fries too. He was about to ask for the fried vegetable when his mom saw him looking at the fries and scolded him for staring.

All the blond wanted to do was get out his book and read under a tree, but he knew he would be even more late, so he pulled out his MP3 player and continued his trek. The teen really wanted to get some of his favorite books on CD, so he could walk home and listen to the stories, but he hadn't yet gotten to it.

The best part of the song came up, and Ryan closed his eyes and walked in rhythm to the music. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea, because there were no sidewalks and he was just in the street, but that wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have mattered because it was not a car that killed him, it was a puddle. Ryan slipped in the puddle and stumbled forward, crashing into the light post in front of him. The force of crash jolted the old post, and the head of the lamp came crashing down on the ill-fated teen, knocking him unconscious and landing face first into the puddle, where he drowned.

All Ryan remembered was walking to his music when he crashed into something and was knocked unconscious. He missed the part where he died.

***

Ryan woke up later after what had felt like hours. He sat up and rubbed his head, which was still seriously hurting. He soon noticed the soft carpet under him and opened his eyes. He was nowhere near where he used to be. He was in what looked like a waiting room, there were chairs all around the room of various shapes and sizes and a few magazines on end tables. Soft jazz could be heard in the distance.

The blond teen walked up to the counter. There didn't seem to be anybody there, but there was a bell on the desk. Ryan rang it, then the sound of a woman's voice.

"Be with you in a minute hon. I'm a bit tied up back here." The disembodied voice called out.

Ryan stood there for a moment, but then took the nearest seat, seeing no reason to stand with all of these chairs unoccupied. He looked at the end table nearest to him. The subscriptions were nothing that he had ever seen before. The was a Macabre-Politan, Death Digest, and little pamphlets titled: You're Dead, Now What? Ryan's curiosity led him to pick up the closest magazine and look at the cover. It had a average looking lady on the cover, her clothes seemed a bit dated, but normal nonetheless. Ryan supposed these were some sort of Halloween specials that had never been thrown out. He had just opened the first page when the voice spoke again.

"Okay, hon. What do you need?" A plump woman with copious amounts of make up asked. Her name tag indicated herself of Angie.

"Where am I?" Ryan asked.

"Ah, your a new one. A total shame, your still so young." Angie mumbled.

"Excuse me? What do you mean new? Have I been kidnapped?!" Ryan was starting to panic.

"Oh, no not at all. You're dead, you died about five minutes ago. Would you like to see?" Angie asked, already pulling out her television set.

"I guess…" Ryan was at a loss of what else to say, unable to believe it was true.

"Okay, just a second, dear… ah! There we are." She smiled. "Sorry about the quality of it, I get bad reception here."

She pushed the play button and the a film of Ryan started to play. He was walking down the street, just like he had been a few moments ago. Then he reached the puddle. Ryan's face went pale as he watched his own death. He saw himself walk into the puddle, slip, and crash into the light post. The light fell on his head, and he watched himself drown in the gutter water on the side of the street.

"There, you see? Your death is pretty unique, I haven't encountered one this strange in a while." Angie said, sounding excited as if it were a real treat to watch.

"So… I'm dead?" Ryan asked.

Angie nodded her head slowly.

"This can't be! It's not fair! I wasn't supposed to die in the gutter, I was supposed to go home and complain about walking home again. I was supposed to finish my homework and go to bed." Ryan fell to the floor, feeling weak.

"I'm sorry hon, but that's just how it is sometimes. You can't expect a redo when stuff happens…" a beeping started coming from her computer. "Hold on a sec dear."

Ryan sat on the floor, feeling like lead under his own body weight. He couldn't believe it was over already. There was so much he hadn't yet done. He had never really made any friends, his family hated him, and he was going to die all alone on the side of the road.

"Oh my… this is quite unexpected." Angie trailed off. "Ryan, honey. Please get back up here. There's something important I have to tell you."

"Yeah… what is it?" Ryan's hollow voice asked.

"Well, there's an opening, for a certain part of the department, and they are looking for an apprentice. It isn't an easy job, but if your accepted, you could be brought back to your realm. You could have a second chance!" Angie exclaimed. "This isn't an ordinary thing boy! This is a once in a century opportunity. Take it."

"Okay!" Ryan exclaimed. "How do I do it?"

"Here," the heavily make-upped lady handed him a form she printed out. "Take the test, and if you match up correctly, you could be back to your old life."

Ryan practically ripped the sheet from her hands. It was what looked like a Scantron and a questionnaire, it was titled Position Aptitude Test: R.A. Ryan sat in a chair and started reading the questions. They were nothing like the questionnaires he had filled out before. There were bizarre questions like:

1. Do you believe in love at first sight?

A. Yes

B. No

2. What was your first crush like?

A. Awesome

B. Good

C. Okay

D. Bad

E. Non- Existent

3. Do you use:

A. Artificial Sweeteners

B. Or Real Sugar

4. What do you think the biggest threat to love is?

A. Infidelity

B. Falling out of love

C. Incompatibility

And so on…

Ryan tried his best to answer the questions truthfully, seeing no real right or wrong answer. Most of the questions were farfetched, such as asking whether or not he felt he could inspire others to do great things, and some were downright personal. One even asked him, in his own opinion, if occasional masturbation was healthy. Unable to answer the question, he left it blank. Ryan turned it in with nervous, shaking hands. He could hardly wait for the results.

Angie put the answer sheet into her printer, and waited a few minutes. Ryan was dancing on his feet, unable to sit still. Finally a ding sounded from the machine, and she pulled out the same sheet.

"Hmm… interesting. You've managed to get all of the right answers when it comes to the subject matter, but you failed when it comes to the life experience section. Hold on, let me call this one in." She pushed the one button on her phone and waited a second. Then a muffled voice came from the other end.

"Hey, Alice, how have you been? Really? That bad? I thought Harold made those reservations weeks ago. I see, well that's too bad." Angie continued on for at least another minute or two, to which Ryan cleared his throat very loudly. "Hey Alice, can I get back to you? I have to talk to Robert. Thanks."

Angie rapped her fingernails against the table wile she waited. Finally she spoke again.

"Robert? Hey this is Angie. Yes, I got that letter you sent me. Listen I've already got a potential person in line for it. Yup, he even lives in the same city as Regi. How did he do? He passed the subject, but failed in the experience section. Really? It's alright? Okay, I'll tell him. Okay, you have a great day too. Buh- bye."

Angie hung up the phone and looked at Ryan.

"You lucky son-of-a-gun! You got the job!" She got up and hugged him over the counter. "You start first thing tomorrow morning, don't forget to read your instructions. They will be in your room, follow them closely." Angie waved to Ryan. "Bye Hon! Good luck on your second life! Try to not drown again!"

Ryan tried to wave back, but something was going on in his head. His vision was getting blurry, and the edged of his eyes were darkening. He finally fell to the floor and lost consciousness one last time.

***

Ryan jolted up from his sleep. He was laying on the side of the road, his entire outfit soaked through with gutter water. He groaned and got up again, feeling the lump on his head starting to form. How long was he out? He had the strangest dream, something about an office and him dying… He gathered up his bag and hat, something he was never without, and set off for home.

When he arrived, he was called into the living room and bombarded by questions from his parents. At first they were just yelling at him for being later than usual, but they noticed his disheveled state, they asked him what happened. And for once in a long time- they actually sounded like they cared.

He explained to them that he was walking home- again- when he slipped and crashed into the light post. The lamp atop of it fell on him and he was knocked out, falling into the gutter. His parents called Sharpay into the room. She arrived, a sparkly tiara twinkling atop her head, and sat down on the couch as far as she could from her brother. She looked at his current state and glared at him.

"Sharpay." Mr. Evans started. "As of late, you've been leaving your brother to walk to and from school. We've been turning a blind eye to it, but I think it's time for you to stop. Ryan could have been seriously hurt today-"

"Does my aching head mean nothing to you?" Ryan complained.

"-and I feel partly responsible. Buy you, Princess, are also at fault. You will not leave this house for school, or leave school, unless Ryan is with you. Starting tomorrow." The head of the house ordered.

"That's _so _unfair! Why do I always have to drive him around? I'm not a chafferer. He should be responsible for himself." Sharpay whined loudly.

"That doesn't sound very Christian to me. What would the Lord think of your words? Casting aside your own brother." Mrs. Evans said chided.

"What about the Lord? It's not a sin to make your brother walk home, besides, he doesn't do anything else but read." Sharpay retorted.

"Sharpay Evans!" Her father yelled. "You will _not_ talk about the Lord like that again. You are grounded for one week, no clubs or socializing past school hours. Come straight home- with your brother- after school."

"But dad…" The dive whined.

"No 'buts'! Do as I say!" His word being final.

Sharpay huffed and stormed out of the room; leaving Ryan, the television, and his parents.

The television was blaring, it was one of those reality shows where people have to live with one another and their fights get broadcast to the world. At the moment, it was showing the cast being led by one of the fellow members to a club. The strange thing about the club was that it was an all guy club, except for the female cast members. Ryan watched, curious about the strange club. It had really good dance music, and he was tapping his foot to it. His parents noticed and exchanged a look.

"Ryan, why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up? You look tired and cold." His dad suggested.

"Alright, in a sec." Ryan said, still focusing on the television.

"Go on Ryan. _Now._" Mr. Evans commanded.

"Alright. Good night you guys." Ryan said as he left the room.

***

Ryan sighed contently as he toweled off his hair, wincing a bit at the now formed lump on his head. He felt a lot better now that he was all squeaky clean. He walked over to his armoire and opened the drawer. He pulled out his pale blue silk pajamas and put them on. He would do his homework during free period, so he crawled into bed. He put his head on the pillow and felt a crunch under it. Curious, he lifted it up. There was a sheet of paper, slightly crumpled from his weight. He picked it up and opened it: there was a tidy writing scribbled across it.

_Your training begins tomorrow after school. Be ready._

_-Angie, A.L. Processing Office. _


	2. Second Chances and First Encounters

Chapter 2: Second Chances and First Encounters

Ryan woke up early the next morning, feeling unusually energetic. He got himself all ready an hour early, and even managed to find an old half used can of hairspray in the back of the linen closet. Why it was there was a mystery to the teen. It was once that he was at his desk, looking through his homework that he remembered the letter under his pillow. The blond tried to reason that it was a dream, but it kept nagging at the back of his mind like some sort of nagging thing that nags. Finally, he gathered himself up from is desk and went over to his night stand.

There it was. It's stark white paper slightly crumpled by the weight of his head. Ryan picked it up and read it again.

_Your training begins tomorrow after school. Be ready. _

He remembered that the lady in the office, with all of the make up, told him that the instructions would be in his room. The question was _where_ it was. He began his search, looking through all of the papers at his desk. Nothing. Then he went to his book case and checked to see if it was hidden in there. Not there either. The lithe teen spent a good twenty minutes on his fruitless hunt when he finally resigned and flopped himself onto his bed. He sighed and pulled the pillow over his head. What if this was some sort of trick? Sharpay always loved making fun of him, and if she could get Ryan to believe her lie, he would never live it down. But it just wasn't possible: how could she get into his head and make him dream all of that stuff? Then, on top of that, get herself in trouble for the sake of the joke. She was grounded now: no friends, no going anywhere in the car their parents bought _both_ of them.

Another thing: the car. Mr. And Mrs. Evans bought both Sharpay and Ryan the car. It was silver then. Since then, Sharpay has painted it pink, had the interior changed, and has denied Ryan his rightful ownership of the car. Ryan had complained to his mom that it wasn't fair last month, but she claimed that they bought Sharpay the car and got him the computer. It was the family computer and it was in the living room. Ryan said so, and his mom got mad.

***Flashback***

"Mom," Ryan started, "this is the third time this _week_ that Sharpay has left me behind, and it's Wednesday. You bought us both the car, but Sharpay is taking the whole thing over."

"Honey that's not true. You are always out in the car, going places." Mrs. Evans said as she bent down to stretch out her legs, getting warmed up for yoga.

"No, I _walk_ there. Sharpay has the car, and she won't even give me a ride!" Ryan exclaimed. "She painted the whole thing _pink_ without asking. With you credit card no less"

"How else in the world was she supposed to pay for it?" Mrs. Evans said evenly. "Besides, it really is her car. We got you the computer, remember?"

Ryan looked at his mom with a mixture of shock and anger.

"Mom! That is the family computer! I don't even get to use it because either you or dad are on it, doing business stuff, or Sharpay is hogging it to go to some stupid social networking site!" The blond teen was all worked up. "You guys got it a month _after_ our birthday anyways, your just lying."

"Ryan! I will _not _be spoken to like that." Ryan's mom was standing straight up, no longer enjoying her exercise. "We use that computer to do important things for work, and you need to share, that computer wasn't cheap."

"But it _was_ cheaper than the car that is apparently Sharpay's." Ryan retorted. "Do you realize that you've contradicted yourself already? One: that car car cost over ten times more than 'my' computer and Sharpay gets it all to herself, and yet I have to share! Two: If you can afford to give her a brand new _foreign_ car, how can't you afford to buy more than one computer, if only for your son?" Ryan's voice was cracking, it was painful to think that his parents valued his sister more than himself.

Mrs. Evans was at a loss for words. She looked like she was about to punish Ryan but then she saw the look on his face: he was genuinely hurt that his parents cared more about his sister than him. He wouldn't look her in the eye, afraid that he would cry if he did, and that broke her heart more.

The woman couldn't deal with the guilt, she left the house for the rest of the evening. When Ryan came back from school the following day, he found a brand new laptop on his desk. There was a card on top of it. It read 'I'm sorry.' Neither Mrs. Evans or the blond teen mentioned it afterwards, but Sharpay was furious when she found out that he got a brand new laptop and she didn't. The diva demanded to get one just like Ryan had - only pink, but for once neither parent gave in. Sharpay would have to use the family computer if she had to do anything, since she did get the car and all.

***End Flashback***

He rolled over into his side, trying to forget the bad memory, and felt something very hard and large in his bed. It was on the other side of his mattress, the part he rarely slept on. The pulled the covers up and saw a large wooden box. It was a dark mahogany wood and it's face shone brilliantly due to the heavy lacquer. Gold leafing decorated the container, also spelling out Ryan's full name in the metallic flourishes. It was beautiful.

Ryan opened it, curious as to what was inside. Inside was a ornate bow and a single silver arrow, which had a red light pulsating through it, making it look alive. Another strange artifact in the box was a gun. It was in the same pulsating silver as the arrows, and the light seemed to move from the handle of the gun to the barrel, as if the energy flowed from the user to the target. A second box inside the first contained three bullets, or at least they looked like bullets. They were blood red rubies, shimmering in light that Ryan couldn't seem to find. He was certain that they weren't ordinary rubies either. A glimmering gold caught his eye. It was a book, and the gold leafing on the front was was shining brilliantly. The cover only read Cupid, no author or ornate decorations.

Ryan opened the book, having already looked at the other things he got. The book was new, the spine was still stiff and the pages had that new book smell. The first page had his name written on it with great flourishes and made the book seem fancy. He turned to another page, but he was interrupted by a thunderous noise.

A loud knock at the door brought the male twin back to reality.

"Ryan! It's a quarter 'till. I am _so_ not being late on account of you! Come on!" Sharpay screamed through the door.

The teen quickly put the book into his bag and finished getting ready. Once he had all of his books together, he went downstairs. His sister was waiting by the front door, her hands on her hips.

"Hey Sharpay, sorry. I'm ready now." Ryan quickly apologized.

"Oh, _now _your ready. Well isn't that convenient? Like I have nothing better to do other than chauffeur you around." His sister was glaring daggers at him.

Ryan gulped, knowing the following ride would be a very long and unpleasant one.

***

Reginald's morning routine was important to him. His alarm would go off at six, and he would promptly shut it off and shuffle to the bathroom. There he would clean his teeth, take his shower, and yes, use the toilet if necessary. After he got himself ready, he would go over to the kitchen and make himself a light breakfast. Then the aged man would sit at his counter with his breakfast and plain black coffee and read the morning news while he dined. It was at a quarter until eight that he came to the realization that he wouldn't be going in to work that morning, or really any other morning. He had to train his apprentice, Ryan, and send a report back to the office every two weeks. That was it. He couldn't start the training until the boy was out of school, so he had the morning to himself.

He tried to keep busy. He went out into his garden and took a look at the flowers. The gardener wasn't doing a very good job: there were bugs chewing on his orchids and the plants looked like they weren't being watered like they should be. These orchids weren't indigenous to New Mexico, they needed very close care. He got out the watering hose and gave his flowers a quenching shower. Reginald then got out the bug powder and sprinkled it over the flowers, feeling slightly guilty he was killing the insects. During the latter part of his tending, the gardener came to the back. Reginald gave the man a look and told him off for being lazy with his flowers. Then he dismissed the man for the day, feeling like finishing the job himself.

Once he finished the gardening, Reginald went back inside to prepare his first lesson. He reread the teen's file and made notes of what he needed to start with. The boy was very bright, his high marks in school told him that, but he was also very naive. The placement test he took was very strange, he could answer the questions that determined his level of reasoning, but he couldn't really answer -or just didn't on some- the questions that would tell us about his romantic past. Reginald sighed. If the test result were any indication of what he would have to deal with, then he would have to cover a lot more than just the basics of the job.

It was noon by the time he had finished the outline of what he would be teaching today. He still had three hours left! With nothing else to do, he pulled out the bucket and an old cleaning rag. Might as well clean the house too…

***

Lunch time: It was Ryan's favorite time of the day. Not because he liked to eat, the food wasn't palatable in his personal opinion, well except for the New York Deli Platter, but that was because it was brought in from an actual deli. He like lunch time because it gave him a chance to get away from everyone. He would take his food with him to one of the abandoned hallways and sit down and read. So far he had read the majority of his apparent guidebook. He had many questions for his mentor.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway was normal, even during lunch, so Ryan paid no mind to it. It was only when there was someone ten feet from him that he noticed that the sounds were a lot louder than normal. He was in the maintenance hall, where almost no students went, so seeing anyone here was rare. He looked up to find out who it was that had invaded his personal space, and was surprised to see that it was Troy - who normally had a flock of groupies all around him.

"Hey," Troy was right in front of the blond.

"Umm, hello…" Ryan responded shyly.

"What are you doing?" The basketball captain asked, flipping a few loose locks of his brunet hair out of his eyes.

"Reading. What are you doing?" Ryan asked, trying to be more social.

"Oh nothing, I have to go see my dad in his office, but that can wait for later. It's just about spirit week." Troy paused. "What are you reading?"

"This? It's nothing really."

"It looks new, what is it." Troy was staring intently at the book. "Wait… 'Cupid'? What kind of book is that? Is it one of your grandma's old romance novels?" Troy joked lightly.

"No." Ryan frowned. "It's an book on the perceptions of love and the dynamics of a relationship."

Ryan felt a small amount of importance as he said that, knowing that his new job held such significance. He could make Troy the happiest man on earth, if he wanted.

"Are you reading that for psych class or something? I thought we were doing that chapter on social dynamics next week." Questioned the athlete.

"What? How did you know I'm psychology?"

"Dude, we're in the same class. Your right behind me." Troy smirked.

"I know, but I've never even seen you look or acknowledge me before. Until today, I didn't even think you knew my name." Ryan explained, feeling like a loner as he said it.

"I've noticed you. You have the best grades in class, which always puts me second. And I have turned around to see you before, last time we got our tests back I ask you what you got." Troy squatted down to Ryan's level. "You were so engrossed in looking at your work you don't even notice you were responding."

"So we have talked before?" I asked.

"Yeah, but all I know about you is what your test scores are, which is enough to know your a bright guy."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Troy was about to stand back up, but hesitated. "Hey, did you want to hang out with me and my friends after school?"

I just stared at the brunet. Why was Troy inviting me to hang out with him?

"What, do you have something better to do?" The basketball star asked, feeling slightly put off.

"Kind of, I have college prep after school. I can't get out of it, so I won't be able to make it with you and your friends." I shrugged. "Sorry."

"It's alright, maybe we can hang out at lunch tomorrow?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Alright cool, see you around Ryan." Troy walked off.

'What the heck was that?'The blond thought to himself.

"Why were you talking to Troy?" Said a jealous voice behind him, a very familiar jealous voice.

"Umm, he wanted to say hi. Then he invited me to hang out with him after school." Ryan flinched. Realizing what he had done.

"What!? Why in the world would Troy talk to you, _then_ invite you to hang out with him?!" She barked, not believing him. "Wait he invited you to hang out with him?"

"Umm...yeah?" Ryan responded, not really believing it himself. "But I can't- at least not today. I have something to do after school."

"What?!" Sharpay's shrill voice echoed through the hall. "Your going to decline his invitation?! What are you doing after school, jacking off?!"

Ryan was losing it.

"That's none of your business Sharpay." Ryan said through gritted teeth. "You've never cared about me before, why care now?"

Ryan turned on his heel, leaving his sister behind. She commanded him to stop, but she really had no power over him, not like she thought she did. The only reason he put up with her crap was because he had nothing better to do. Now he had something very important to do and he wasn't going to screw it up because of her.

Ryan went into the library, knowing it to be the one place Sharpay would never go willingly. He greeted the librarian warmly. He had cultivated a sort of friendship with the book keeper and would often times find himself talking literature with the aged woman. She saw his anger and knew that it had to do with Sharpay.

Miriam or Miri as she liked to be called, the librarian, knew of the inferiority complex his Sharpay gave the teen, and her maternal instincts would kick in full force. Miriam got a coffee cup that said "Foxy Grandma" on it and poured another cup of green tea, the school wouldn't allow her to bring her own coffee mugs since they weren't red and white, but she didn't care. She was a rebel dammit.

"What did Sharpay do to get you all ruffled up this time?" Miri asked as she handed him his cup.

"She saw me talking with Troy and immediately bombarded me with questions. I swear, anything that she thinks will get her more popular, she'll do it." Ryan sighed as he took a sip of the steaming beverage. "Troy invited me to hang out with him today."

"That's wonderful news!" The librarian exclaimed. "You need to make more friends."

Ryan shot her a look.

"More friends your own age." She corrected.

"Whatever, I cant' even hang out with him anyways. I have to do something after school." The blond lamented.

"What?"

"I have to go to some college prep classes." Ryan lied again.

"Liar." Miri smiled.

"Excuse me?" Ryan smirked.

"I'm calling your bluff. We both know that you could get into any college no problem. So what's the really happening?"

"I can't really say. I promised that I would do this though… sorry." Ryan apologized, he hated keeping secrets from people.

"Well, alright, I'll accept that for now." The aged woman said, "Just make sure you start socializing more."

"Okay, I will." Ryan smiled.

"So, tell me, what did Troy say to you?" Miri asked. She was no fool, she knew Troy was the most popular boy in school.

"Nothing really, he just wanted to say hi and be more social I guess." Ryan said off handedly.

"Well, that was nice of him."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, I mean, what if this turns out to be a trick and I actually fall for it? I don't need another reason to be alienated my entire high school career." Uncertainty was laced in Ryan's voice.

" Don't think like that. Troy may be the basketball captain and popular, but he's a nice guy. Besides ,have you ever considered that your more interesting than you seem to think you are?" The librarian took a sip of her tea, peering at the boy over her cup. "Just give it a shot, if he does play a prank, then come to me. He'll be buried in late book fees so deep, he'll be paying for them until he graduates."

"Can you really do that?" Ryan asked.

"No, but that would be cool." Miri admitted.

***

Psychology, the last class of the day, and Ryan was starting to get antsy. He was nervous about his meeting with his mentor. He almost didn't notice when Troy slipped a piece of paper onto his desk. He opened it and read the untidy scrawl.

_'Hey Ryan, see, I am in your class- lolz. Anyways, it's cool that you have other things to do today, just meet me at the main entrance to the cafeteria tomorrow. I'll be there. How was the rest of your day?'_

Ryan quickly wrote another message on the back of Troy's note and pushed it into Troy's hand.

Troy read it:

_ 'It was okay. After our encounter I went to the library until the end of lunch. Then I had Dance P.E. (not as girly as it sounds), and accidentally managed to throw my partner into the mirrored wall. The glass shattered and we had to use a different classroom until the glass got cleaned up, lol (the girl is okay, she thought it was funny too).'_

Troy snorted trying to stifle a laugh and received many curious looks from the class when it happened. He quickly lied and said that he remembered a funny joke from earlier. Ryan got scared for a minute when the teacher asked what the joke was, but the brunet had one already ready to be told. It was hilarious and had the whole class in stitches when it was finished. The teacher took a minute to compose himself and then continued the lecture. Troy passed another note to the blond.

Ryan opened it quickly.

_'Phew! Missed that bullet, good thing I had just watched some stand up last night. Anyways, that sounds absolutely epic! I wish I could have been there to see it happen. I kinda wanted to go to Dance P.E., but I needed Basketball P.E. to keep me fine tuned for the season. That isn't to say I'm a good dancer at all, I would probably make a fool of myself. Imagine a walrus trying to do ballet, lolz'_ And then there was a little illustration of a walrus, or possibly an obscure oval, flopping on his belly in an attempt to dance.

Ryan sniggered, but luckily the teacher didn't notice. He scribbled another response commending Troy on his fine art work. The two teens kept this on for the majority of the class, trying their best to get the other to laugh out loud in class. Then the conversation turned to their meeting tomorrow at lunch and Troy gave a quick biography of some of the friends that the blond would meet.

Ryan noticed that the teacher was erasing the homework off of the whiteboard and putting up an illustration of what he was trying to explain. Shoot, he missed the homework he quickly wrote down a note asking if Troy had caught what it was and passed it back to him. Troy opened it and read:

'Okay, I'll meet you there. Did you get the homework assignment that the teacher gave us just now? I missed it while reading your note.'

The blond heard Troy chuckle as he scribbled another response onto the small piece of paper. The teacher had started going through the rows as he went on with his lecture and Troy had to discretely slip the paper under his worksheet they had been assigned. Ryan continued taking his notes as he waited for Troy to return the paper. By the time the teacher went back to the front of the class, the bell had rung, signaling the end of school. He saw Troy stand up, stretch, and grab his bag. Ryan felt a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to hear Troy's response.

Wait, he also needed the homework for tonight!

He rushed out of class to catch up to Troy, but stopped when he heard his name being called. Said teen was standing outside of class, looking right at him. Ryan walked back to him, feeling slightly embarrassed that he was so worked up.

"Hey, Troy. I was just trying to catch up to you. Do you remember what the homework was?"

"Yeah,we just have to read the chapter he was covering today." Troy placed the note into Ryan's hand. "Here you are, I didn't have a chance to give it back to you in class because of the teacher."

"Thanks."

"No problem. See you later Ryan."

"Bye"

Ryan watched as Troy walked off before he looked back into his hand. He opened he note and read it.

_'The homework is to read the chapter we covered today. _

_Rawr, I can't believe the teacher is going around the class room now to check if we're paying attention. He's almost as bad as Ms. Darbus is with cell phones. Well, class is ending, I guess I'll give this to you when we get out. See you then!_

_-Troy'_

_BTW: wear your red button up shirt tomorrow. Trust me._

What the heck? Why would he ask him to wear that shirt specifically? Ryan's questions would remain unanswered until tomorrow. And he still had to go meet his mentor.

As he made his ways down the halls to his lockers, he bumped into one of the basketball players. The other strap of his backpack caught on the arm of the athlete and caused the seams to split. Ryan watched all of his belongings fall to the floor and his cologne for after dance class shattered. Soon the entire hall was filled with the scent of his expensive french cologne.

"Great…" Ryan moaned.

"Oh shoot! Sorry man, I didn't mean to bump into you like that. I was texting my- never mind. Here, let me help you get your stuff together." The other teen bent down to help.

"Thanks, it too bad my cologne shattered, the smell is way to strong right now." Ryan lamented.

"Yeah, it is pretty strong, though I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to dump the whole bottle on yourself at once." The mystery teen joked.

Ryan and the raven haired teen, who later identified himself as Jason, picked up all of the the blond's belongings and put tried to put them in Ryan's bag again to see if it could handle the walk to Ryan's locker. It split again, and they had to pick it up all over again. Jason then offered to help Ryan carry his things to his locker, which the blond accepted.

"Thanks for stopping to help me, most would have just walked away." Ryan said as they made their way down the hall and turned the corner.

"It's nothing, I'm supposed to be in the math lab, getting help with quadratic formulas, but I know that's already a lost cause." Jason smiled.

"Well, if I'm keeping your from something that you need to be at, I'm sorry." Ryan apologized. "However, if I'm helping you stall from doing something you don't like to do, then I guess you welcome."

" I think the 'your welcome' is the best choice." Jason chuckled.

They had made it to Ryan's locker and Ryan quickly opened it up. They put the books and various other goods Ryan didn't need in the shelves, and Ryan kept the few things he would need for later. Ryan bade goodbye to the passerby who had both put him in this predicament and also helped him through it and walked out of the school.

Wait a second…

Where was he supposed to meet his mentor? The note didn't say anything about where he was supposed to be, it just said to be ready. Ready for what, to stand cluelessly outside of his school while he wondered where in the world he was even supposed to be? Ryan was close to walking home when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned around, thinking it was Troy, but it wasn't. It was an old man holding a stack of files in his left arm.

"Can I help you?" Ryan asked.

"I believe so. You're Ryan aren't you?" The old man inquired.

"Yes. Are you… are you the guy who is supposed to be mentoring me?" Ryan asked, trying to be vague in case it wasn't who he thought it was.

"Yes I am." The man held out his frail looking hand. "I'm Reginald, I will be spending the next few months teaching you the many responsibilities and rules you must follow for you job."

"Umm, okay. So when do we start?" Ryan asked, while shaking his hand. "And how am I getting home, did you fly here or something?"

"No I didn't fly here, I took my car. That's just a stereotype." The old man shook his head. "Now, back to business. I have read through your file, and it shows you know practically nothing about love. So today, I'm just going to be showing you around town. Usually it's just showing you tips on how to do your job discretely and effectively. For you though, I will also be going through the run down of how to tell when people are flirting, reading their looks, and so on. We will meet twice a week for two hours, so you can still keep a relatively normal life."

They had reached Reginald's car, a silver hybrid, and the old man opened the trunk for Ryan. Once inside the car, the scent of cologne soon overwhelmed and choked the two men.

"Oh my lord, what on earth happened? Did you soak you books in cologne?" Reginald asked while putting his windows down.

"No, my bag split and my cologne got all over my stuff." Ryan said.

"Well, anyways, we're heading over to the mall. I figure that's the best place to start, what with it being a center dedicated to attracting a mate."

"Mate?" Ryan questioned.

"Partner, soul mate, hooking up... whatever else you want to call it. The point is there will be plenty of examples for me to explain body language and how observation plays the most important role in our job." Reginald waved his hand, showing that he was done explaining that.

"Also, while your in training, you can not try to pair anybody up. You have to wait until you pass the basics." Reginald added.

"Got it."

***

Ryan was sitting at the mall with his mentor, sipping his iced latte and watching as people went by. Every once in a while, the old man would point to a couple and say a little bit about them . Reginald said it was difficult to tell how close two people were because of how different everyone is. More conservative people may just walk side by side, and appear to only be friends - even though they are madly in they could be very emotional and hang all over each other while hey walked. It all depended on the person, which was something that Ryan would have to learn quickly.

"See, there's a perfect example!" Reginald whispered.

There was a little cart in the middle of the walkway of the mall selling knock off sunglasses. The girl working there was talking to a guy who was asking about sunglasses, she was flirting at him and playing with her hair.

"See! Look at her eyes, they are constantly making eye contact, showing she's interested. She also flicks her eyes to his chest and back while playing with her hair. She's overdoing it, but at least it's a good example."

Then another girl shows up. She immediately hooks her arm around the guy and glares at the other girl.

"Aww, you see that? Apparently he's already with somebody."

"Um, Mr. Wilde?" Ryan asked.

"Call me Reginald, or Reggie. Now what is it?"

"I know all of this stuff already. The only thing I didn't really get were all of the sexual things that the test asked me."

"Didn't you learn about that in middle school health class? Reginald asked incredulously.

"No, my parents signed me out of it. They claimed that they didn't want me corrupted at such an early age by listening to the school in saying underage sex is okay." Ryan shrugged, knowing his parents were way overprotective about that stuff.

"What! I can't believe that, what a stupid thing to do!" Reginald's face got pink. "Not telling you the truth! Argh, and you know what? I bet they would rather have you see a hundred people murdered on television than see a topless woman!"

"Umm, Reginald?" Ryan asked after looking at his watch.

"I'm sorry. I lost my cool, now what was it you wanted to ask?"

"It's been two and a half hours. I need to get home." Ryan explained.

"Aww, shi...ttake mushrooms." Reginald stood up and gestured Ryan to follow him. "Well come on, let's get you home."

Half an hour later, Ryan was sitting in his room. He had just got home to his angry parents. Apparently Sharpay told them that he ditched school and that's why she couldn't take him home. Luckily Reginald was already with him. The old man told them that Ryan had signed up for some extracurricular activities for his college applications, he said it was volunteer work and it would only be twice a week. Reginald introduced himself as the coordinator for the volunteer activities Ryan would be doing. After the awkwardness was over, Reginald left.

His parents had cooled down after that and Ryan was relieved. They said that he had missed dinner and next time to tell them when he was going to stay out for this volunteer work, because they had thought he was hurt again.

Ryan ate some cereal and went to his room to finish his homework and go to bed. He fell asleep dreaming of passing noted in class and flying hybrid cars to the mall and back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello, it's been a while hasn't it? Well, despite all that's been going on in my life, I still can't tear myself away from the keyboard. Things have changed though. I don't just write everything in one sitting and submit afterwards. I do what I can in my free time and save it. Then I come back when I get the chance and read it over - it really helps me find out if I had represented the characters like I wanted to. Anyways here's my second update since my temporary break and I hope you all like it. Please review, I appreciate feedback so please let me know if there's something I can improve on. (And yes, I know that are grammar and spelling mistakes I miss [I can't help it] - I'm talking more about inconsistencies in the story.)

All the best,

(RAWR!)


	3. AN and Apologies

Hey you guys, I know there hasn't been any new posts in a long time, and I'm not gonna lie and say new ones are going to be put up. So anyone who is still reading this, I received a few rather rude PMs in response to the last two chapters in my current story, A Broken Mind. I'm not going to name names, but I can't sit down and write this story without thinking about what they said and it has affected me. So again I apologize for this.

In case you guys need to know, I will put up a basic outline of what would have happened in my currents fics on my profile soon.

Also, I'm switching to some other, non-HSM fics. I won't promise anything soon, but I would like to write again. Maybe Twilight? IDK, Im playing with the idea, but am still uncertain…

Again I apologize,

-(RAWR!)


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